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VISION

SOUND

Collage ski resort „Darbandsar“

0:15

0:25

0:30

Skiing woman

Skier

Sannaz (21),

Snowboarder

„Skiing is our greatest pleasure . Just great!“,

„The entire week is like a count down to this day for me.“

„I think most young people come here to get rid of their frustrations. Skiing here means forgetting your problems and worries“

0:42

Poster of Khomeini / Khamenei

with snow top mountains in the background

Comment:

Worries, for example, like the strict regime of the mullahs.

Here in the mountains north of Teheran young Iranians have found a haven of relative freedom over recent years. This is paradise in their eyes compared to the dreary reality of the Islamic Republic.

1:09

Sannaz in the skiing area

Comment: Sannaz is 21 and lives in Tehran.

She spends every week-end in winter out here in the mountains. She used to ski, but now she’s changed to snowboarding. The long over-coat women must wear in Iran can be left at home. This resort is much more to her than just a place to do sport.

1:28

O-Ton

Sannaz (21),

Snowboarder

24:18 „Boys and girls can meet much more easily here. This is a good place to find a boy-friend. And the clothes we wear here are much more comfortable as you can see.”24:32

1:42

Sannaz and other skiers

Comment: President Ahmadinedjad’s call for strict observance of the Islamic rules evaporates in the thin air of the Elbors mountains. The women here have bypassed the dress code. Sannaz and her friends show their hair. This transgression alone is punishable by whipping. They gather every week-end for their silent revolt against the Islamic Republic.

2:05

2:19

Skiing woman

Skier

20:57 „We’ve got so much more freedom here. I don’t have any intention of covering my head, certainly not when the guards are out of sight. It’s enough bother to wear this in town.“

10:50 „The state can’t turn back the wheel of progress. Now they want to introduce separate ski pistes for men and women, but that won’t happen.“ 11:00

2:30

Sannaz

Comment: Unfortunately she can only enjoy this liberty for a few hours at week-ends. Monday morning sees her back in her normal life, down in Tehran, a megacity with 15 million inhabitants.

2:41

Teheran with music

2:54

Sannaz goes to work, at the office

Here, she works in an architect’s office. She has a degree in graphic design. She is well trained and yet as a woman she has a subordinate role. The lack of equality, the economic crisis and no hope of political change are three good reasons to leave Iran, she says.

3:19

Sannaz (21),

„I can’t see a future for me in Iran. I haven’t got the patience to stay here. I haven’t even considered the idea that I’d be forced to stay. I’d rather not think of a future in Iran.“

3:42

Collage

Comment: But the chance of a new life elsewhere is unlikely. Who issues visas to Iranians?

Meanwhile in Tehran, the gap between young peoples’ yearning for freedom and the expectations of the mullah’s regime widens.

Concert

Comment: We are in a basement on campus right next to the place where the sermons are held. A rock concert in the mullah state has to be seated. Standing or even dancing are forbidden. And the sexes are not allowed to mix.

We talked to some of the young rock fans after the concert.

Friday sermon

Comment: Friday sermon at Tehran University. On state television the regime celebrates its ideal of the Islamic youth – but fewer and fewer people are willing to live up to that ideal.

4:52

5:01

Faezeh (18)

Hosein (24)

„The way we dress and our music reflect the fact that we don’t agree with the way things are in our country.“

„There is no true co-existence in our society. When I have new ideas or I like something new that deviates from tradition, it will be brutally suppressed by the custodians of the state’s ideals.“

5:20

Comment: The guard had demanded a disciplined and quiet rock concert.

We watch one boy, who has a box of ecstasy pills. When you’re not allowed to dance, you’ve got to get your kicks somehow.

Two female students who witnessed the scene tell us later that drug consumption is escalating wildly among young Tehranians.

6:02

6:14

Maran (21)

Goldis (22)

„All of my friends take these pills. They even created a new expression for it. They say: “ Tonight we’re going to blow ourselves up”

„This goes on, because pleasure is a foreign word to this society. The mullahs want us to mourn endlessly so they can have their fun.“

6:32

Comment: Sarcasm, drugs, rock music and the mountains: This is where young Iranians take refuge almost 30 years after the Islamic Revolution.

6:45

Sannaz (21),

Snowboarder

„Up here I feel like I’m in another country, it doesn’t fell like Iran here.“

6:56

Young people in Iran are living in a parallel universe. Iran’s theocratic leadership might despise the facts, but they can’t change them.